I Hate People Like You
by upriserseven
Summary: GSR.


CSI Story: I Hate People Like You

Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle were used to getting calls to investigate dead bodies, especially suspected murders. But to get a call from a school, about a fifteen year old boy, was still something that hit both of them hard. The whole drive, they both sat there, silently, with Sara driving. This wasn't just because of the case's circumstances; there had been some personal tension between them recently.

The walk to the classroom seemed to take forever, although it was probably only a minute. Dozens of students stared at the two Crime Scene Investigators as they walked toward the English classroom. There was an officer standing at the door and Detective Sam Vega was questioning the Principal. A nervous English teacher stood with two paramedics, one of whom was Sara's ex- boyfriend, Hank Peddigrew. She awkwardly smiled and nodded at Hank and he waved back. Sara and Hank had broken up after she'd found he had been dating someone else, Elaine Alcott, when they'd met.

"You coming?" This was the first thing Grissom had said to Sara in approximately two days.

"Uh, yeah, sure, sorry." Grissom held up the yellow crime scene tape and let Sara through saying,

"Ladies first." Sara laughed and walked through, followed by Grissom and then Detective Vega who gave them the information he knew so far.

"English teacher, get this, Sally Field, walked into her classroom to find this guy, student Jack Truman, lying covered in blood on the floor." The classroom was small, which meant Sara and Grissom's actual crime scene analysis probably wouldn't take too long.

"Let's get to work then, shall we?" Sara asked, she got no answer and looked over to find Grissom staring at the boy, "Grissom?" Grissom looked up and seemed to suddenly notice that his colleague was talking to him.

"Sorry, what?"

"I said shall we get to work. Are you ok?" Grissom nodded and the two CSIs locked eyes for a moment. They both glanced away when the door closed from Detective Vega's exit.

"Right, work!" Grissom said, almost nervously, Sara noted.

"Yeah, work." Sara and Grissom set to work, in silence, taking pictures and paying very close attention to small details which, to the untrained eye, could look unimportant, but could possibly be crucial to solving the case. David Phillips, the assistant coroner, opened the door and accidentally hit Sara with it very lightly.

"Step on my evidence and I'll kill you. And by the way, ouch!" The CSI was referring to a blood smear she had found on the carpet. She snapped a few pictures from each angle and collected a swab to take back to the lab.

After being given the go-ahead by Sara, David brought in a gurney and removed the body. Sara thought she saw something glimmer under the boy, so she walked over to pick it up. It was a pen, good for fingerprint. She noticed something else; a pen is much better evidence when it's engraved.

"C. Thomas. Could be a teacher or a student."

"What?"

"This pen I just found, under where the body was, it's engraved with C.Thomas."

"Why don't you ask the Principal?"

"Yeah, I will." Grissom was staring out the window, to anyone else it would look like he was thinking but Sara had never seen him like this, he looked like he could be…upset. She walked over and touched his arm sympathetically, "Are you sure you're ok?" Grissom turned around and nodded in response to this. Sara didn't really believe him but she needed to go and talk to the Principal. She smiled at him and left. Grissom sighed deeply and got on with his investigation.

After a quite intense moment with Grissom, Sara could use a lead, she just hoped that this pen would give her one.

"Excuse me, Sir, you're the Principal, correct?"

" Yes, Tony Stephens, how can I help you?"

"I'm Sara Sidle, from the crime lab, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Sure, go ahead, if it'll help."

"Do you have, that you can think of right now, a student or member of staff named C.Thomas?" The Principal immediately looked shocked.

"Yes! Claire, Claire Thomas, a PE teacher. Do you think she could have had something to do with this?" Before Sara could answer, Grissom came out of the classroom and walked over, asking the Principal,

"Do any of your teachers use metal rulers in their standard equipment?"

" Yes, all of our technology teachers. Why?"

"We're going to need to talk to all of your technology teachers due to new evidence..."

"..And Claire Thomas." Sara butted in.

"OK, I'll arrange that." Sara handed the Principal a card and said that if they were gone by the time it was arranged, he should call them. He left to make the arrangements.

"Care to share your new evidence with me, Gris?"

"I found a metal ruler covered in blood. Probably the victim's blood. The murder victim. A 15-year-old boy." Sara finally understood, Grissom had always had problems with cases involving kids. Grissom looked at her and it was as if he could tell what she was thinking, but didn't want to explain.

"We should get back to the lab, get all this stuff processed." Grissom nodded at Sara's idea and said,

"Yeah, but let's stop and, uh, get a cup of coffee on the way back." Sara was surprised to hear her boss suggesting taking a break but, nevertheless headed to the car and fully intended to stop on the way back.

Twenty minutes later, Sara and her boss were silently, yet not awkwardly, sitting across from each other each with their coffee in front of them, the same way they had been for 10 minutes. Then Grissom broke the silence,

"When I was 14, my best friend was murdered. They never found the guy that did it." Grissom stared at his coffee as he said this and, all of a sudden and completely out of character, a tear started to roll down his face. He looked up at Sara, "I'm sorry"

"What for, being human?" Sara moved her chair around and, even though she wasn't sure she should, she put her arm around him. "Are you ok to work this case?" Grissom nodded and the two looked at each other. To any onlooker (and to Grissom and Sara) it could almost have seemed as if the two were about to kiss, until Sara's phone rang. She pulled away and flipped up her cell.

"Sidle." On the other end of the phone, she heard a familiar voice, that of Detective Vega,

"Hey Sara, all your teachers are here. Can you guys come now?"

"Sure, we'll be right there." She hit the end button and closed the phone. She turned around and said, "Vega needs us. The teachers are there." Sara threw some money on the table and they walked out to the car. They drove the next 20 minutes to the PD in complete silence.

They only had two more teachers to question and get DNA samples and fingerprints from, and then they would take all of their evidence back to the lab. Sara was getting ready to question Claire Thomas and Grissom had just started his conversation with Charlotte Johnson, textiles teacher and head of the school's technology department. They had already met Julia Rogers and Lee McCue. Both had, what seemed to be, genuinely nice things to say about Jack Truman. Neither seemed likely to have killed him but, on this job, Sara had seen weirder things than nice people turning out to be murderers. Charlotte Johnson didn't seem to like him so much though,

"He was a troublemaker, he was always playing up. He was a bully too, you should check for students that complained about him, there should be a lot. Still, I can't imagine ever hating someone enough to kill them." The teacher suddenly stood, startling Grissom, "Can I go now, I mean, I'm doing this without a lawyer and you don't have anything to hold me on. Or do you have evidence you're withholding?" Grissom shook his head and gestured toward the door, his eyes saying 'go ahead.' He then picked up the clear, plastic evidence bag holding Charlotte Johnson's DNA and fingerprint samples and put it in his pocket. Gil Grissom walked toward the door, opened it and let the teacher through. Once she had walked through, Grissom himself left the room and went to watch Sara questioning Claire Thomas. His colleague had great people skills and, although he would never admit it, he sometimes envied her. Sara was now sat opposite a dark-haired woman, probably in her early thirties. The evidence bag holding the engraved pen lay on the table between the two women.

"Mrs Thomas, is this your pen?" Sara asked.

"Yes. I don't know how it got in Sally's room, if that's what you're going to ask me next." Grissom wondered how she knew where Sara had found it. As if she had channelled him, Sara asked,

"How did you know where I found your pen?" Grissom smiled, he and Sara always thought alike. Well, great minds.

After 10 minutes of questions getting lousy answers, Sara gave up and let the teacher go. She grabbed her evidence and walked out of the room. She walked along the dreary, grey corridor and suddenly got stopped by Grissom.

"Hey, I was just gonna come look for you."

"I know, I watched your interrogation. Her story about knowing where the pen was because we 'wouldn't bring it up if it was irrelevant and not at our crime scene' is either true or quick thinking." Probably quick thinking, Sara thought, although Grissom would get mad if he heard her making assumptions.

"I know, I know, it's probably quick thinking," Sara was shocked, "But we have to prove it before we can officially say anything."

"Well then, we'd better start analysing this damn evidence."

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Actually," Sara said as they were walking along the corridor, "I'm gonna go and talk to the Principal again, I have a few more questions for him. You coming?"

"Uh, no, I'm gonna stay here and start on this evidence. You go ahead. Catch me up when you get back. OK?" The truth was Grissom wasn't sure he wanted to be alone with Sara for too long after what had happened earlier at the coffee shop.

"Yeah, sure. I don't think I'll be too long but, who knows?" Sara left and Grissom was surprised to find himself watching her as she walked away.

30 minutes later, Sara was arriving at the school, where she found the principal just about to leave. She ran up to him,

"Excuse me ,sir, I'd like to ask you a few questions before you leave, if that's ok?"

Mr Stephens looked at his watch and sighed,

"As long as you're quick, Ms Sidle."

"Well, could we go inside? I may need some information that would be on school's computers." She thought for a second, "Unless you know which teachers taught Jack Truman for Phys. Ed. and technology?" The Principal looked her up and down, clearly confused, and said,

"Claire taught him for P.E, I remember because she came to me a few weeks ago about his grade, but I'm not sure about technology. The kids switch teachers every semester."

"Would that be Claire Thomas?" The Principal nodded. "We're going to need to go inside and check which technology teacher he had most recently." The two walked inside with the Principal leading the way. He walked into his office and sat down at his desk, gesturing for Sara to take the seat opposite. She sat and waited while he used his computer to find Jack Truman's last technology teacher was, passing the time by asking,

"Which other member of staff would you say Claire Thomas is closest to? Who would you say she spends the most time with?"

"Ms. Sidle, all of our staff get along well. Although I'd say she spends the most time with Rachel, or Sue, other P.E teachers. However, she's probably closest to Lottie, uh, Charlotte."

"Johnson?" The Principal nodded, and then his computer bleeped,"Ah, here it is. Jack's last technology teacher was…" Mr Stephens cleared his throat nervously, "Lottie." Sara stood up,

"Thank you; you've been a lot of help." She looked at the very nervous principal, "If Charlotte and Claire are innocent, this is just helping us eliminate them as suspects sooner." Mr Stephens nodded, showing that he understood.

Grissom was sitting in the lab, comparing prints from the teachers to the prints on the bloody ruler. He found himself staring at his watch every few minutes, wondering when Sara would be back. He was just about to check again when,

"Hey! You will never believe what I found out." Sara exclaimed as she walked through the door. The computer suddenly bleeped, "Oooh. But, uh, you first."

"Damn! All 3 tech. teacher's prints are on here. So I got nothing, what were you so excited about when you walked in?" Sara flashed him her mischievous grin,

"Well, Claire Thomas and Charlotte Johnson are like B.F.F or something…" She looked at her boss, who was clearly confused. She'd figured he wouldn't know what that meant. "Best Friends Forever. Jack Truman's Phys. Ed. Teacher was Claire and his last tech. teacher was Charlotte, or 'Lottie' as everyone calls her."

"Well then, lets go and talk to Lottie, shall we?" Sara's response was a grin, raised eyebrows and a nod.

"Let's."

5 minutes later, the two CSIs were sitting in the black Tahoe, stuck in a monster traffic jam. Grissom cleared his throat,

"About what happened earlier, at the coffee shop..."

"Yeah, it, uh, it should never have happened."

"Oh, uh, yeah of course exactly what I was going to say."

By the time they pulled up outside the school, both were suitably uncomfortable. Only 3 cars beside the Tahoe were in the parking lot,

" The silver hatchback belongs to Mr Stephens and the blue mini is Claire's. No prizes for guessing who owns that little red number."

"Unless you know it belongs to Charlotte Johnson, dont say that again."

"Sorry." A bang came from inside the school,

"Did you hear that? Uh, I'm gonna go in, you stay here and call Vega." She started to open the car door.

"Sara..." Grissom paused, what should he say?

"Yeah?"

" Uh, be careful, ok?" Sara nodded, that was stupid, what was she gonna do, delierately get herself hurt? But wait, was Grissom worried about her? No! She didn't have time, she'd think about this later. she suddenly became worried, what if she was getting herself into something bad? What if she didn't have the chance to think about it later? Well, she couldn't go back now. What if she made an excuse, say she needed to tell him what she'd really meant just then, that she should have ignored her phone at the coffee place and not pulled away.

She must have carried on walking because she was now inside the school, hand rested on where the gun was holstered on her hip. She didn't intend to use it, but she felt safer just knowing it was there. That was, until a hand grabbed her from behind, clutching over her mouth,

"You even attempt to pull that gun out, and I promise you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Sara suddenly got the feeling that that could be a shorter amount of time than she'd ever imagined.

Grissom hung up the phone and glanced at his watch. Sara had been in there 5 minutes, a while to check a building, but it was a large building. He decided to call her, to check she was ok, for his benefit as well as hers. He flipped up his phone and hit speed dial 2. A ringing sound met his ears,

Sara was sitting, tied to the chair, staring straight into the dark brown eyes of Charlotte Johnson, when her phone rang. Sara flinched as the technology teacher reached for it.

"Hmmmm, Grissom, oh the, uh, the guy with the glasses, right?" Sara nodded, "Well if you don't answer he'll only get suspicious." She opened the cell and held it to Sara's ear,

"Sidle."

"Hey, where are you? Are you OK?"

"Uh, no not really." Sara was careful not to let on to Johnson what Grissom was asking.

"Do you need me in there?"

"Uh, no, no, that's ok."

"You want me to wait until Vega gets here?"

"Probably a good idea"

"Sara, is it Charlotte Johnson and Claire Thomas?"

"Uh, kind of, yeah. Half right." Sara laughed, another part of her cover-up.

"I'll get Vega here as soon as possible."

"Thank you."

"Sara...I, uh, I love you." Sara was silent, dumbfounded, and Gil hung up the phone. Sara looked up at Charlotte and nodded.

"So," Lottie said as she put the phone on the table, "I suppose you're wondering why I'm doing this." The CSI nodded, "For the same reason I killed Jack, you annoy me." Sara shook her head in horror and disbelief,

"You killed an innocent 15 year old boy because he annoyed you?"

"Yes. Exactly why I have you here and Tony in there in the same situation as you," She gestured to the room next to the one she and Sara were in, "And almost the same reason I killed Claire, were you wondering where she was? She helped me move the body and then tried to frame me. What a bitch."

"You tried to frame her too. You left her pen at the crime scene, I found your fingerprints on it."

"That was an accident, but an added bonus that you actually investigated that bitch. She left the damn murder weapon. Now I dont feel so bad about sleeping with her ex- and splitting them up- then keeping it a secret. Right until her last moment. That was one of the last things I said to her."

An evil grin spread across her lips at this, scaring Sara half to death. she saw a sudden movement through the open door, Vega! He gave her a thumbs up to continue her conversation with Charlotte.

"So, what exactly did Tony do to annoy you?"

"He helped you, answered your questions,"

"Do I annoy you because I'm solving this case?"

"No. Well, partly. People care about you, I'm sure." Sara thought back to her phone conversation with Grissom. "You're smart, you're pretty... I hate people like you."

"You're smart and pretty. Do you hate yourself?" Before Charlotte had time to answer, she was grabbed from behind. she started to grab Sara's gun from where she'd put it in her jacket pocket, but as Sara closed her eyes- knowing what would happen next, the sounds of 3 bullets being fired rang through the air. Sam came over to untie Sara.

"Next door, Principal. There could be a D.B around here too, Claire Thomas." Vega nodded as he took in the information and sent Sara outside. she saw Grissom pacing by the door and just about fought the urge to run to him. He put his arms around her and she began to cry,

"Ssssshh. Honey, you're ok now." Sara slowly pulled away,

"She killed him. Claire helped her move the body, she kidnapped me and Tony Stephens. She killed Claire too."

"Why?"

"We annoyed her." She looked into Grissom's piercing blue eyes. "Did you mean what you said earlier, on the phone?"

"Yeah."

"I love you too." She thought for a second, " Earlier, in the car, I meant that I shouldn't have pulled away. We were..."

"About to kiss."

"Yeah and I really wish that we had."

"Well, I might be able to do something about that."


End file.
